Wall of Sound presents: International Women’s Day Band Showcase Week – Industrial/Post-

The big day is almost upon us, International Women’s Day 2019 is just around the corner but before we get there, let’s continue our week of showcases. This time it’s all about bands that fall under the Industrial and Post- genres. Post- meaning metal, hardcore, rock etc as there are plenty below that you should already know or already be adding to your future playlists…

Post-metal, when it’s done correctly, can be intense. Take Sumac, Old Man Gloom or of course, Chelsea Wolfe’s Hiss Spun for example. Droning bass, a static overtone and general sense of foreboding violence lurking underneath it all. The theatricality of the music shines through quite explicitly in the vocals but it’s within the music arrangements themselves that these deep bores of doom and depression are being excavated. Chelsea Wolfe has had an eclectic career but this latest album is a post-metal masterpiece.

In a similar vein, Helium Horse Fly crank up the uneasiness to deliver a quite unsettling experience as a whole. The variation of noise on their album is spectacular, but to use an example ‘Happiness’ fits best. Marie Billy could be off key, she could be exactly where she needs to be, regardless, the aural soundscape layered over the post-rock style guitars bleeds hypnotism. Hollowed really is a great album and is worth your time (my review here).

Fitting into the industrial/electronic side of this list, Keluar create a brand of hard bass synth that is equal parts dance track and dreamy drug trip. Vitreum is a wonderful album that blends wonderfully textured electronics with Zoé Zanias’ soft, seductive, yet eerie voice. She has a solo project as well that is quite good, but easily one of the coolest things about her, is that she recognises that her art, as a product, is a victim to the misplaced values of modern capitalism and it’s a failing system. So if you can, support her projects! And contemplate about the society we live in.

French music always finds a way to break the mould when it comes to genres, and post-rock duo Les Discrets are no different. Listening to trippy rock music accompanied by the French language is disorienting and calming in a way no other music can be. Predateurs is a bit of a departure from their traditional post-rock roots but goodness me is it wonderful. Rain falling on your upturned face at dawn doesn’t feel as good as letting this wash over you.

As I included the tag ‘post-‘ I thought I’d put in a properly good post-hardcore band, and I figured why not Løvte? Heavily punk influenced, their music is aggressive and fast with little pockets of respite that older post-hardcore bands are known for. Magda’s voice is properly angsty, yet so powerful. Confidently singing refrains, notes aching with imminent release punching through the noisy music. As the tension snaps like a twig, her delivery turns into a raging storm.

I first saw this Sydney based quartet open for some band in some venue in some year. I was seriously so enthralled by their music and stage presence that it obliterated everything about that night besides the band itself. Though they’re instrumental post-rock, they write music in the same way that Explosions in the Sky do, where it is constructed around not having vocals, not feeling unfinished, but perfected. This means all the instruments can shine on their own too, and Alison Kerjean’s bass does just that. on their latest album Refractions, often being ahead of the guitars and drums, dragging the rest along for the ride.

My first contact with MSI was when I learned their bassist, Lyn Z, for her audition into the band, fucked it up and just set her bass and everything else in the room on fire with Bacardi and matches. That’s punk as fuck. Flash forward to me listening to their music and I couldn’t help but just smirk. Industrial/electro punk is probably the best fit, but the band is just weird in general. Weird cool. And the massive contradiction is, Kitty Dunn who’s just the most normal looking woman ever, that is until she gets to drumming. Then you realise why she fits in.

A funeral. A dirge. A lumbering beast. This is post metal at its sludgiest and most ambient. Nadja craft music for the ages in the form of a poisonous smog. Leah Buckareff is a huge part of the noise as well; the bass is an all consuming maw of distortion and apathy. Latest album Sonnborner is a pinnacle in their work (though they have so much it’s hard to sift through); minimal in noise, but massive in spirit.

If you don’t know who Portishead are, you’re lucky you’re here! Many of their songs are straight up industrial as fuck, but a lot of them are also super odd and trippy and… well, amazing. Beth Gibbons mesmerisingly liquid voice drips between the jagged edges of their harsher songs, whilst adding a corrosive edge to their softer ones. Whilst not technically broken up, they haven’t released a full length since 2008. However, that should not deter you, this is music that is a must listen.

Swans are so out there it would be best to describe them as post-music. Hectic and abrasive noise one album, to acoustic atmospheres the next. Whilst Jarboe is not in the current lineup, she was a member for the years 1984 to 1997, which was the demise of the band before the reformation. So this is like, old Swans. Either way, her contribution to Swans saw it move in an industrial direction, adding in drums machines, synths, and her screamed vocals, evinced by ‘Money is Flesh.’ Truly one of the most influential constructions in music history.